ASSESSMENT: JIHADIST FORUMS; IT’S A TRAP!

Preface:

A connection passed me this little missive from a jihadist board this morning and I couldn’t pass this one up to write about. The poster is a fairly new one (Nov 2013 started his acct) and he is writing about how the jihadist boards have pretty much turned into security services traps online to break the brothers jihad. While much of the post is pedantic there is a core of truth to what the guy is saying no matter how poorly he writes about it. The fact of the matter is that many of the sites out there have always been poorly secured as well as subject to not only agent provocateur attacks but DD0S as well. Khaled wants to not only warn about the insecurity around much of the boards but also that he proposes new means to protect the brothers from being captured. While he lacks any real technical specifics here he is alluding to issues that they do have and he half understands. In all, an interesting read and I thought it would be for you all as well. Please forgive some of the crudity to the translation as I am not fluent yet in Arabi (written specifically) but I think I worked it down to the gist of it.

Translation:

In the name of God the Merciful Peace and blessings be upon His Messengers and his family and followed them until the Day of religion.

Triangle of terror in the forums is :

The forum hosting company where members write and do not know of the security apparatus follows!!

The forums were a blessing and a gift of God Almighty to see religion and belief and the search for news of the Mujahideen in the squares jihadist turned to tyranny under the hammers and the plight of a curse and a means to discredit and handcuff and restrict votes and hands ! It’s the same traps that were previously exercised .. But this time it electronically ! What is the saddest technology while turning into a weapon , however, and the darkness of tyrants and enemies !

But before then :

Jihadist forums , the story of excitement and crying at the same time! Soul-searching on the other, and the journey of self-affirmation with others.

The Islamic index launched all models Brotherhood and mystic , etc. .. Then came the jihadist forums.. The number does not exceed the fingers of one hand , it was a new phenomenon on the Internet audience! Where he became a man feels that he reveal what is inside without supervision or control , was expressing his faith and exactitude of the Lord by denying him the reality and the environment!

This Phenomenon was attractive , especially as it allows you to call yourself names new sail where the character of (different) about the real personality ! (aliases)

A new way started from the point of expression to the point of promoting thought and ideology then came fake masks (users) from other countries and intelligence and security apparatus’ After this massive development witnessed by the jihadist forums during Alsnouattalmadih there had to be a careful and accurate study of this phenomenon which is now affecting the Muslims in our country especially the Islamic and even the media ! !

The jihadist forums evolved so dramatically in recent years where development and there has been a growth in diversity and subtraction and expansion in the Internet audience in them. This development was most exciting and its transformation into a media spreads in alleys of the scientists of truth and quacks, and unknowns both naive and smart good and bad. The intelligence and the bad guys have been the hunted and hunter !

The forums spread the word of jihadist Almzakah , and thereby helped by programs to provide forums and ease of hosting and installation appeared to separate the wheat from the chaff but soon this began deteriorating , back to a lack of creativity and underdevelopment about the reality of the nation in all its details in these forums ! !

There were several people in the doctrines of the label :

Itzmy, his real name or a part of his real name ( and this is very rare ) and some Itzmy loved loved their character or were influenced by him and on behalf of some specific code or loved admire him or battle or incident or event or history or geography ! Some names Itzmy intellectual of the names of groups to the currents of ideas to beliefs ! But behind these names were hiding and a variety of different personalities all share in wearing masks made ​​available to it forums !

When he woke up the other party :

Then evolved phenomenon where the forums became the largest gathering of spying and surveillance helped in that this rush is limited and non-formal and informal sectors of the large numbers of oppressed peoples and thought it a good opportunity to unload their repressed thoughts and feelings from all these years of injustice and tyranny …oppression and tyranny !

The reason for this is that the phenomenon made it a breeding ground for Investigation and Intelligence in the Arab world. I realized that these gatherings can be exploited for certain goals by opposition groups whatever the quality of the opposition the victim went so young and the needy and were duped !

It Was a trap :

After the ( jihadist forums ) were knocked off on top of the world’s attention and communication to the public Internet encouraged in people a kind of technical yearning and longing began which broke the restrictions and isolation and Retention of intellectual thoughts and feelings for many segments of Arab society that had been restricted for decades.

Evolution subtraction qualitative in forums, and take character media purely in the recent period , became the local media global following with interest what poses in these forums, news , articles, analyzes and information materials , and raising it interesting and exciting is the exploitation of various groups of these forums for the dissemination of data and statements and files audio and video , was a chance of life opportunities that will not be repeated ! Especially jihadist groups that are active in many countries .

This increased the ferocity of the conflict groups are active in the media and promotion of the ideology and goals of the State and the security services are trying to reduce this phenomenon which is in fact the reason for media restrictions on these groups !

They did not benefit from all attempts at blocking and destruction and closure to these forums and sites though and it was not necessary to plan more intelligent and more effective means ! The plan then was ( electronic fishing ) which is about security issues growing and multiplying living in the forums and negatively affecting the governments.

The mission of this campaign was to set a trap for the electronic owners who promote a particular ideology or without their media machine to a disseminate their ideas.

Electronic fishing plan :

The plan was as follows (according to visualize the conflict that is happening in the forums, which I am following and still do for a long time ) the idea is to visualize imaginary and not necessary to be literally it all revolves around this department and within this framework.

These are set up within the Department of Internal security services to monitor and participate in these forums are a group of security agents ( or recruit active in the forums ) that have a good cultural understanding and the ability to understand the forums and dialogues and ideas of these jihadi groups .

These groups are divided into small teams , each band has a specific role and a specific play :

For example, ( under cover agents ) as role supporters in these groups to give ideas and establish relationships with these members ! !

( agent provocateurs ), a group of others who do the opposite role of attacking the ideas and these groups in a provocative way to agitate ! ! !

The elements ( under cover agents ) register under the names of forums are closer to the ideology of these groups in order to notify the other party that they are close to them ! ! These start writing topics (posts) that advocate these groups ideas/ideologies to fool (put to sleep or fool) the other party to these topics and fool them all ! ! !

They start side correspondences by mail and messenger until the rhythm of the prey to the network ! ! !

The ( agent provocateurs ) whereupon register the names of the exact opposite or normal , and you subtract topics provoke the other party and try to reply to topics and raising the other end !

I do not mind the exchange of roles between two opinions , and do not mind a game of cat and mouse between two opinions ! ! !

In the sense that both the teams are playing a game direction and the opposite direction ! ! The other party is watching and watching , and perhaps fools trick and tends to the party who supported !

Of course , this plan is a plan that I mentioned several of the plans pursued by the security forces in the forums ! There are ways and methods more dangerous .

Forums owners in the dark :

Do the forums and owners play an important role in this fierce conflict ? !

And why are other jihadist forums not being prosecuted and shut down ? !

Technically you could see the members and where are they? ! (poor opsec)

There is no doubt that the owners of jihadist forums are between rock and the hard place about member security services ! ! Members are trying to hide their identities , and the security services are trying to get information from the owners of these forums for members !

The quality of these forums are (vb/phbb) which are the largest percentage of Arab forums and are the most insecure because these forums know the number of the entry of the member or the so-called IP address ( a unique number to the Internet in which you can know which country you enter including the member or visitor) These can be seen through additional software that shows the access number (IP) and the specified complete information and not just the state.

IP addresses can be traced but not always as there are numbers entering hidden (proxies and TOR) and are therefore difficult to follow. But with the development of spyware it has become possible to be done to access the phone which have has been used to get on the site and therefore know who the owner of the phone as and arrest him .

Of course this site has your mail lists and add them also the nature of the posts and the responses and some of the words that fall from the member inadvertently and they can go through it all to figure out who writes the posts .

Of course , there are many ways to hide the real information browsing , but the majority don’t know how to.

From this point, cooperated some forums that claim to advocate jihad falsely with the security services in order to provide information for those members , and this is what explains the survival of some forums that claim to advocate Mujahideen falsely published scandals and write the spectrum of the opposition , remained these forums is blocked and non- prosecution ! ! !

Malice and cunning develops when :

Prepared by the security and intelligence plan, the most insidious of these, because the jihadi forums sincere did not respond to their requests , and they have established a private forum, new , and have been promoting it to attract members from another forum , has put a smart plan commissioned by some members left threads against them in order to attract other parties .

There are forums known to follow the security services or they collaborating with them! ! There is no need to mention names , but they are known to attendees of the forums.

Hosting companies accused of the biggest security problems :

Where the role of hosting companies in this fray ? !

Hosting companies play a serious role and important role in this conflict , and the hosting company is a company that holds files and data on its website ( servers ) which computers are intended to put the sites .

Attackers can see and open and watch databases , and can know the numbers to access the site , and know of any states walk , and knows all the passwords and data members , and you know the number entering false or not!

All these factors make hosting companies play an important role in this battle, electronic , and therefore are trying to stay away from forums hosting companies Arabic! Being located under the control of the state they are in. !

However this does not mean that the hosting companies the best of America ! ! Now there is a law that allows the Office of the FBI to enter on any server hosting company to search for specific information ! This has happened several times to major sites !

Third-party invisibility :

Jihadi forums are trying to protect their members and are trying to escape from the grip of security intelligence , to put its companies away from corporate America and the Arab , such as the European companies , or Russian or Chinese or Malaysian , etc.

And many sites have succeeded in this, and there are some people disappeared from the world of the net, because he did not find a suitable hosting company has its reservation !

There is continuous monitoring of all the jihadist forums , both of Arab security services or of Jews themselves! (don’t forget me too 😉

There are many other sites tasked with monitoring the sites and forums where Arab and positions and what he writes , and this is part of a global scheme to follow up on all matters relating to anti- occupation ,
Crusader Zionist hegemony and arrogance . And speech in this long technically and media .

As about the ability of the security forces in the Arab countries to prosecute tens of thousands of attendees and break forums , it is also thought by some that they have a miraculous power that they can follow each person and follow every word and character! Despite the evolution of technology and the presence of all the requirements for it , but not to this extent , there is a general framework to move and there are filters ( filters technique ) are certain of which focus on groups without the other ! (NSA programs no doubt)

How does one fall prey in the net ? !

After creating the overall atmosphere at the level of the forums and the level of individuals , begins a plan to arrest cyber dissidents , and begins the process of gathering the spoils in the forums that have been the focus on them.

There are many styles of plots within the security plan ( electronic fishing ) for catching prey and these methods are divided into two sections:

First: the technical methods

Secondly, methods of mankind ( by handling )

It is technical methods :

1 – the theft of the e-mail

2 – planting spyware on your machine

3 – access to your screen and real name ; who writes in the forums and stealing and writing through it.

4 – to be a forum in which he writes is originally belonging to the security and intelligence services

5 – to break into his computer via messenger or an email , and get all the files ! aka hacking ( In the absence of protection software on the device )

Methods of human :

1 – Trying to bribe him by writing topics supports the idea and opinion , and thus created a friendly relationship up to Instant , then chatting on Messenger , then communicate the sensory and the meeting , and spoke of the disaster here !

3 – Continuous communication via private messages and e-mail in order to strengthen the relationship and development.

4 – Get the addresses of the other victim , and thus expanding the circle of victims. (making connections)

5 – Providing any assistance to him in order to gain affection and confidence , and providing false information in order to manipulate it .

All of these methods and many others , followed by the adversaries within the security plan for the implementation of a comprehensive plan inside the jihadi forums which are expressing their opposition to the intellectual and practical for any system or state .

Many Colorful masks and face of one :

The most dangerous thing in this matter and this plan is a game of multiple masks ! The sense of how to be a captain in the intelligence and security services and at the same time a member of one of the jihadi groups ! It is the process of distortion of the party in order to achieve the objectives of the hidden benefit of the first party. (aka it’s hard to be an agent provocateur!)

This is what should be what the jihadist forums pay attention to and understand well when going into dialogues on jihadist forums .

Forums conflict and war forums took great dimension while wearing a turban Maguethohmah intelligence captain for the appearance and Mufti Sheikh Naseer jihad and the mujahideen , or vice versa !

It was expected to evolve conflict to this point having stepped up jihadist groups and their presence on the net, the forums in particular are the point of the media work and the address of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri Media jihadist began to communicate strongly among its members attempt to circumvent the limitations of reality and movement.

The security services began a new attempt to penetrate these groups and control them by distorting the work of jihad and started electronic detection cells that spread in the forums !

Electronic mechanism of action plan :

I started to plan the new electronic security and it is:

1 – Cell formation and fake jihadist forums task specific data dissemination promotion and promote ideas distort the image of jihad and the mujahideen , or an image of the other. (DISINFORMATION)

2 – The team must responded to and disseminate data to encourage them to generate a stream of support and advocacy for the emergence of a strong appearance !

3 – Creating the case of adverse reaction to the visitors through a crude way of asking and barbaric ideas and beliefs and statements such as atonement. This is what you want the security of this plan to be .

The plan is very easy and can be applied with ease examples are well known and the data easy to formulate. The method of dialogue and atonement are available, the technical possibilities exist but these ideas must be spread dramatically

The strongest example of this is the multiple data released from several destinations in the bombings in Sharm el Sheikh ! Data for each group claiming to be made ​​from it! ! No one knows anything about the other group ! (DISINFORMATION)

Long talk about this axis , and there is information difficult to talk about and write , but it’s much broader than that , and the danger lies in changing the minds and ways of thinking to the public net, it is the process of laundering organization of the minds and ideas , involving everyone!

There is no end :

Forums war or conflict to exist in jihadist forums will not stop and will not end , because the technical means available to everyone in the complete absence of freedom and unloading shipments of oppression and injustice , will remain gatherings knock on her exercise of this right for the delivery of her voice.

The greatest danger lies not in this right to these gatherings , but lies in the transformation of this arena to ( traps electronic ) to the rhythm of this prey weak and convert the arena to a new prison , prosecutions and follow-up informants and wiretaps and spying and the practice of the worst methods of distortion and deception !

It’s the same traps that were previously exercised .. But this time it electronically ! What is the saddest technology while turning into a weapon , however, and the darkness of tyrants and enemies !
Moved interest

Hur eye , conformist God, claiming well for the owner of this review good .

ANALYSIS:

While Khaled wishes to have real dialogue out there on these forums he is worried that the security services and the NSA have pwn3d them all. He also worries that infighting within the groups has not helped and believes (perhaps rightly) that there are agent provocateurs on the sites sowing dissent as one team, and then another playing the good cop to the bad and gathering intel on users. He implores the brothers to learn more about the security around these sites as well as to take a serious look at who is hosting their sites to start. He references the FBI as being able to seize servers and peek into them while they are active (like they did with SR and SRII) and posits that the brothers need to start managing their domain access better though he does not offer a solution other than locating them in countries outside the US. Khaled is also worried about the revelations from Snowden it seems though he does not reference him directly. He speaks about hacking against the brothers being carried out through (phishing) but also larger plans of social engineering and espionage tactics by the local security services as well as others like the US. He then offers an idea of creating their own DISINFORMATION campaigns by creating fake cells and sites to draw the law off of their other more secret sites that have been secured. Overall though he see’s that the internet has given this gift to the jihadi’s of being able to talk to each other and evangelize online and is upset that it is being perverted by the LEO’s in order to break their spirits and their jihad.

While I agree that there is a lot of what Khaled is describing going on out there, I also think that the jihadi’s do it to themselves quite a bit as well with shooting themselves in the foot so to speak. The infighting and squabbles on these boards is like watching an arabic 4chan argument sometimes. There are certainly more stringent rules regarding actions on the jihadi boards but all in all they too are seen backbiting each other at times like adolescent school girls on a playground. The issue though as I see it is that primarily these sites have always been insecure and easy to prey upon as Khaled says. Most of these sites are filled just with those who want to spew their thoughts in a place where like minds prevail and to advocate for the proselytizing of others to become shahid. While these sites do harbour solid intelligence it is usually only over actors and their connections, rarely actual data on plans that will be put into action. Until such time as a newly secrued and closely watched jihadi board shows up in the darknet or completely inside a private network somewhere I find these sites to be more amusement than anything else of intelligence value. This makes Khaled’s concerns all the more amusing as he is so fervent in his writing here.